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NZ beat England in storm-hit Chittagong
Published on
Saturday, 22 March 2014
11:04 pm
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sports
England lost by
Duckworth-Lewis as their World Twenty20 Group One game with New Zealand in
Chittagong was abandoned because of a thunderstorm.
Put in, England
made 172-6 with Moeen Ali firing 36 in 23 balls and sharing 72 in seven overs
with Michael Lumb (36), while Jos Buttler added 32.
Brendon McCullum
hit a six to put the Kiwis ahead of the rate at 52-1 after five overs when the
storm arrived.
New Zealand were
awarded victory by nine runs under the D/L method.
It was a galling
way to start the tournament for England, who posted a competitive total and
restricted New Zealand to 31-1 after four overs to be ahead on points in boxing
parlance.
ive overs needed
to be bowled in the second innings to constitute a match and that fifth over
was not only completed but brought about a complete contrast in the outcome.
Astute skipper
McCullum, conscious of the dramatic flashes of lightning moving ever closer to
the stadium, stepped down the pitch to hit counterpart Stuart Broad for six
over mid-wicket, then edged over slip for four more before hitting the final
ball of the over down the ground for another maximum.
After familiar
feelings of dread at 1-1 from one over, left-handers Ali and Lumb had
invigorated England with some delightfully clean hitting on both sides of the
wicket.
Ali was
particularly destructive with a spell of four fours and a six in six balls
faced.
But he picked out
deep mid-wicket in the eighth over and Lumb was superbly caught by Corey
Anderson at third man in the next.
Buttler kept the
scoreboard moving, while Ravi Bopara, Chris Jordan and Tim Bresnan all struck
sixes in cameo innings, but the torrential storm thwarted prospects of an intriguing
finale.
England will hope
for better fortune in their next match, also under the floodlights, against Sri
Lanka at the same venue on Thursday.
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